Tooth and Nail
by Vullardqueen
Summary: When you're a weird singing robot, you don't have a blood family. No mothers or fathers, no brothers or sisters. All you have is you, and the others like you. And the others like you? They're your family, and if they're hurt you'll fight tooth and nail for them. Against anyone, and at any cost. Even if that anyone is your creator, and even if that cost is your entire livelihood.
1. Damn bitch you live like this?

Rin stared sleepily at the wall beside her bed. It had to be about 7 in the morning or so, it seemed the sun was just rising and starting to shine through the window. Len and Miku weren't even up yet. She could tell from Len's soft snoring from the mattress on the floor and Miku's breathing in the bunk above her.

She picked up her phone, and dismissed the twenty million "In case you missed it" twitter notifications before actually opening it up to scroll through her feed as she woke up.

Downstairs, through the incredibly thin walls, she could hear Meiko talking to someone in the kitchen.

".…they gave us the new song list." She was saying, opening a rather creaky cabinet. Rin was sure it was the broken one Gumi kept saying she was going to fix but hadn't.

"Oh, any for you this time?" She heard Kaito ask back.

"The only thing with my name on it is another one of those bad end night ones." She said with a sigh, and Rin could hear her pour a cup of coffee.

"...sorry, Meiko." Kaito said. "I don't know why they don't give you more songs, you know?"

"I don't make enough money." She said with a bitter laugh, and then Rin heard the familiar pop of the sake bottle as she poured some into her coffee just to make it through the day. The poor woman was programmed to be dependent on it as part of a marketing scheme. What a great example for kids.

"Yeah, yeah I know." Kaito answered, and then paused. "…are you still going to send the twins to go get stuff from Neru? We're really low on like…food."

"Oh, yeah. I should probably get them up." Meiko said, and Rin let out a soft 'noooooooo'. Then she heard her name being called.

"RIN! LEN! GET UP PLEASE!"

Len's snoring came to an abrupt stop as he woke up, and slowly he sat up in bed his long hair all in his face. "…morning Len." Rin said as she herself got out of bed.

"….morning." Len barely muttered.

The two spent a while getting ready in the tiny upstairs bathroom - lord knew Gakupo had the only other bathroom between the eight of them downstairs.

When they finally came downstairs, Meiko was in the kitchen finishing up dishes for the morning. "Why'd you make us get up?" Rin groaned, going to sit at the table as if she didn't already know.

"I need you guys to run over to Neru's." Meiko explained. "We need some stuff."

"Do we have to walk?" Len asked, dreading the answer.

"Yes you have to walk the car is broken down again."

The twins both let out a long groan.

"I suggest you get going while it's still cool out,"

"Hey what if we like, didn-" Rin started, but she was cut short by a hand on her and Len's head.

"Hey what if you like did and didn't argue." Said the person behind them, and turned their heads towards the door. Rin reached up to move their hand, and looked back to scowl at none other than Gakupo or as Rin liked to call him, other goofy dad. "Get going or you'll overheat."

"Fiiine." Rin said, and headed for the front door. Pulling on some shoes, they were out the door.

The walk to Neru's house wasn't necessarily a long one, it just felt like a long one. The part of town she lived in wasn't the best, it was full of run down apartments and houses. On their way, they passed a small run down park and Rin stopped in her tracks.

Len could see the (literal) cogs in her head turning. "…Rin what are you thinking?"

".…Len when's the last time we got on a swing?"

".…I don't know it's been a while but were supposed to be going to Neru's to get food so-"

"I'm so doing it-" Rin said, cutting him off before running towards the rusty old swings. It even squeaked loudly as she sat down on it and started to kick off the ground.

"Maybe that's not a great idea, it sounds kinda old." Len said cautiously, following her over to the swing and watching as she went higher and higher.

"Oh it's fine they build these things to endure!" Rin yelled over the sound of air rushing through her ears.

"If it breaks that's your fault!" Len called back.

"It won't! Watch I'm going to jump!"

"Wait Ri-" Len watched in horror as she waited until the height of her swing to let go of the chains, and go flying off. She landed feet first on the wood chips with a horrible _crack_ that made Len cringe. Fuck, she'd done it now.

Rin cried out in pain and fell straight onto her ass. For a moment, she didn't dare to look at the leg that was now throbbing with horrible pain. If she didn't look, maybe it would go away.

However, Len was looking. And he was rather horrified.

Her leg seemed to have bent at an awkward angle, and black slippery oil spilled over the wood chips. "-good lord Rin look what you did!" He shrieked and rushed to her side. "Meiko is going to kill you!"

Rin hissed in pain, and grit her teeth. _"-I know she is Len you don't have to tell me that."_

"Fuck, fuck okay…what do we do, we uh…" He muttered as a sense of panic settled into his chest. "Neru's place is closer than home, maybe she'll know what to do. Come on, can you walk if I support you?"

"M-Maybe?"

"Well we'll try." Len said, and grabbed her arm putting it around his shoulders before hoisting her up. Rin did her best to keep her broken leg from dragging on the ground, and sort of hopped alongside Len, using him as a sort of crutch.

"We shouldn't have stopped at the park." Len muttered. "You always get distracted."

"Yeah well...well you need to get the stick out of your ass, or something."

Len rolled his eyes. "Nice one sis."

Ever so slowly they approached Neru's house. It was a rundown place with dying grass in the tiny front yard, and a failing garden. It stank like old cigarette smoke, stale alcohol and cat piss and it always made them feel a little sick to their stomach. Len decided to forgo the broken doorbell and beat a fist on the door. "-NERU!" He yelled.

The sound of footsteps could be heard from somewhere inside the house and it stopped just short of the door before it opened. Neru stood on the other side, phone in one hand and a cigarette in the other. "He are you here f- holy shit did you get jumped on the way here or something?"

"No Rin jumped off a swing and broke her leg, can you um, help at all?" Len explained, looking a little nervous at the 'did you get jumped' question.

"Yeah, yeah come on" Neru quickly went to take Rin's other side and get her to a chair. Neru tossed her phone on a table and hurried to get a robot version of a first aid kit. "I can splint it for you, until Crypton fixes it, however long that takes."

Len nodded. "Yeah, that should work I…think. That's what we did last time this happened."

"Last time?" Neru asked as she stubbed out her cigarette and opened up a little box, pulling out some bandages and something sturdy to splint it with.

"Yeah Miku tripped down the stairs." Len explained, and it was immediately followed by, "It was so fucking funny dude." by Rin.

Neru snorted. "Sounds hilarious. How long did it take to get a repair for that?"

"Oh, for Miku? It was like, same day repair." Len answered, rolling his eyes. "…took Meiko weeks to get a hand repair."

Neru just sighed after that. "…yeah. Haku is still limping around herself. Alright, I'm gonna set it on three."

"Wanna hold my hand?" Len asked, holding out his hand for Rin's and after a moment of hesitation, she took it and squeezed it tight.

As she promised, on three she snapped it into place as best she could and started to splint it up. In the absent time the twins took to looking around Neru's place. They knew she shared it with her friend Haku, and sometimes her little brother stayed here when he needed a couch to crash on. It was in desperate need of repairs. The ancient carpet had holes in it, the walls had holes. Neru said there was hardly any hot water. Sure, Len thought, the eight of them living at home had it rough with slow repairs and not enough food or room to go around, but they were definitely better off than the 'failed' vocaloids living out here.

Once Neru was done with the makeshift repairs, she sat back. "…alright. I've done as much as I can." She said with a long sigh. "Will you guys make it home okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." Len said, although he was sure that was a lie.

"I'll get you guys the stuff Meiko sent you for." Neru said, standing up from her seat on the floor and walking into the kitchen and coming back out with a few bags. Half a loaf of bread and some nearly expired milk. "This is what I got, but I'm getting paid in a few days so I'll be fine without it."

"...thanks Neru." Len said quietly, putting the bag on one hand and putting Rin's arm around his shoulder with the other.

They said their goodbyes and stepped out the door, and the moment that door closed they looked at each other with the same expression.

She lives like that?


	2. Hell yeah Len stick it to the old people

The walk home from Neru's place was long, and made longer by Rin's broken leg. Len cringed every time she whimpered in pain. Even if the leg wasn't his fault, he felt terrible about it. That coupled with the deeply unsettled feeling in his chest from the sight of Neru's place made him feel terrible, and by the time they got home it showed on his face.  
Together, they limped through the door. "…Meiko?" Len called. "…Kaito? Someone?"  
"I'm back here!" Called Kaito from the backyard. Len sat Rin down on the couch, pushing the coffee table over so she could rest her leg on top, and hurried out to the backyard where Kaito and Gumi were working on their garden. "Did you get the stuff Meiko sent for?" Kaito asked.  
"Yeah, yeah we did I put the milk in the fridge uhhh…." Len paused hesitating to finish the sentence as he watched Gumi prune a tomato plant.  
"Didn't know we had a fridge uhhhh…just thought we had a fridge." Gumi muttered under her breath.  
Len shot her a short glare before he finished. "…Rin got hurt again."  
Kaito dropped the shovel he was using with a groan. "Again?"  
"Yeaaahhh," Len shuffled his feet, "…she jumped off a swing and broke her leg."  
Kaito stood, and brushed dirt off his pants and shirt. He seemed to be attempting to calmly assess this situation. "How bad?"  
"...pretty bad. She's in a lot of pain, Neru splint it." Len explained, and glanced at Gumi. "…do you think you can do anything?"  
Gumi was a strange girl. She and Gakupo were both from another company entirely. While Gakupo seemed…somewhat normal, Gumi had a few odd quirks. She came to the vocaloid's house with a vague knowledge of mechanics that she never remembered learning, as well as nightmares she could never quite recall. While they were thankful to have an amateur mechanic around, they couldn't deny it's oddness.  
"I might," Gumi said, pulling gloves off her hands and putting the shears down. "I can take a look."  
After brushing themselves off, Kaito and Gumi came in to see Rin. She was still sitting on the couch, clenching her jaw in pain and clenching and unclenching her fist. She was trying so hard not to cry.  
The moment Gumi saw her leg, she started to frown. "I don't know if I can come even close to fixing that."  
"You can't even try?" Len asked quickly, he hated to see his sister in so much pain.  
"I mean I can but what if I mess something up even more?" Gumi answered, a twinge of anxiety in her voice.  
"…I really don't think you can fuck this anymore." Rin pointed out in a strained voice. "…just knock me out please when you do it?"  
"That's fair," Gumi shrugged, seemingly deciding to go ahead and attempt the repairs. "I'll turn you off."  
Rin gave her a thumbs up, and Gumi went to get her tools to start work on Rin's leg. Kaito called corporate, and Len was left to sit by Rin's side, and think.  
Now that Gumi was working on Rin, he didn't find himself as worried about her. Now his brain was more occupied with the other thing leaving him with a knot in his stomach. Neru, and the other "failed" vocaloids.  
Neru's house was a wreck. Haku was without repairs, and there wasn't any money to get any either.  
"...Hey, Kaito?" Len asked after a long stretch of silence.  
"Hmmmmm?"  
"...Neru's place was…kind of wrecked." Len said.  
Kaito looked up from his phone, eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Wrecked?"  
"Yeah like.…" Len paused, and fidgeted with the hem of his shirt while he tried to think of how to describe her house. "…holes in the carpets and the walls and it was little and smelled terrible." He said.  
Kaito kind of sighed, his face going from confused to…guilty. "Yeah, I know. It's in bad shape."  
"Isn't corporate supposed to take care of them too?" Len asked.  
"Yes, of course they are. But corporate's number one priority is..well…it's money." Kaito explained, locking his phone and placing it on the coffee table. He leaned over and picked up a piece of paper, and handed it to Len. On it, were a list of songs to be practiced for an upcoming concert, or a music video to be released. The majority were to be done by one of two people, Hatsune Miku, or Megpoid Gumi. The rest were Rin, Len and Luka. Gakupo had one song, Kaito and Meiko were backups on the one song Gakupo had. "…if Miku is making all the money, why bother with vocaloids who aren't popular? Why bother with the vocaloids who aren't even singing?"  
The words hit Len like a brick. Of course he knew the people at corporate weren't the best, but perhaps the magnitude of their shittiness hadn't quite hit Len yet. Perhaps no one had pointed it out to him yet.  
Len let his hand fall into his lap along with the paper, looking horribly uneasy. "…that's so…"  
"...shitty?"  
"Yeah. Shitty."  
"I know." Kaito said after a long moment. "…but there's not much we can do, is there?"  
"...not much...of course there's something we can do, isn't there?" Len asked quickly after Kaito's defeated statement.  
"What on earth could we do? We're barely making it here." Kaito said. He felt for Neru and Haku, and all the other failed vocaloids out there, but his main concern were the kids in _their_ house.  
Len paused, staring at the discarded paper in his lap while rolling ideas around in his head. Finally, he looked up. "…let Neru and Haku live here."  
"-I'm sorry wha-"  
"And stand up to corporate."  
"-Len, we couldn't-"  
"They have to treat us right. They're responsible for us, without us they wouldn't' have any money to begin with, right?"  
"I mean yeah but-"  
"So we can band together and work this out!"  
Kaito, and even Gumi were frozen and staring at Len, soaking in what he just said and blinking as if he just spoke to them in a foreign language.  
"…that's…a _morally_ good idea Len, but there's logistics to think about here." Kaito explained softly. "…there's eight of us now. We share three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. We can barely make it paycheck to paycheck on food. Forget stuff we need to grow more food in the garden, or tools so Gumi can make repairs."  
"Well, Neru has a human job right? She's working for that writing agency! If she wanted she could chip in and-"  
"I'll talk to Meiko, Luka and Gakupo." Kaito finally said with a long sigh. "…but I don't think much can be done, Len."  
"…Alright." Len said, and Kaito stood up from the couch.  
"…are you almost done Gumi?"  
"Yeah, I think I got it as repaired as possible." Gumi answered.  
"...alright, then I'm out back again to finish up." Kaito said, and after giving Len a weak smile, he left.  
Gumi placed her tools down, and reattached the unconscious Rin's leg. "Alright, there you go…" She said, reaching up to turn her back on.  
Before Rin could fully wake up and process the world around her, Gumi looked to Len with a small smile, and said.  
"...hell yeah Len stick it to the old people."


End file.
